Austrian leader: EU needs new treaty to enforce its rules

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, left, fixes his hair as he arrives for an EU summit in Sibiu, Romania, Thursday, May 9, 2019. European Union leaders on Thursday start to set out a course for increased political cooperation in the wake of the impending departure of the United Kingdom from the bloc. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

BERLIN –Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says the European Union needs a new treaty that would ensure punishment for countries that break its rules.

Kurz made his call in an op-ed Friday for Germany’s daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The conservative Kurz, who has led Austria in a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party since late 2017, advocates a hard line on budget discipline and on migration.

Kurz wrote that the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which took effect in 2009, couldn’t counter the crises of recent years properly “because it was conceived in the time before the crises.”

He said a new EU treaty must contain clear rules and “sanctions that really kick in” on matters such as violating the EU’s budget rules, failing to register migrants or flouting rule-of-law requirements.